Life on PICU

The next couple of weeks went by slowly, punctuated by crises. She took it upon herself to let us know when one was approaching - temp and HR would soar, BP and SAT's plummet, usually giving enough time for the nurse to summon enough hands to help 'bag' her through. Around the middle of week three we were moved on to the main ICU ward. We'd been in a little cubicle up until this point and to be out onto the unit was seen as an improvement.

This heralded another of my little enlightened moments (residing in my little self-made cocoon of denial I came to have quite a few) . I'd assumed that we were in the cubicle because Em had bronchiolitis.; it became evident over the next couple of weeks that that wasn't the reason at all. Every patient who went into the cubicle after us died and it turned out that patients were placed there because it offered more privacy for the families who were expected to experience a loss. I am eternally grateful that Em decided that she wasn't going anywhere.

The leg was still giving cause for concern but the heparin was thankfully preventing more clots. However a few days later it was the heparin itself that was the cause of some problems.